St Paul's United Church of Christ
50 North Main St.
PO Box 129
Manheim, PA 17545
717-665-2447
The Reverend William J. LaSalle, Pastor
email:stpaulsucc@dejazzd.com

Pastor's Message

April 2008

At the time of this writing, twenty six people have responded to the Worship Feedback Survey begun in March.  Thank you for your feedback and suggestions.  This is a helpful process.  Let me share with you some of the results.

The feedback on the addition of the weekly children’s sermon was overwhelmingly, but not unanimously, positive.  Likewise, moving the announcements from the middle of the service to the beginning was seen to be a positive move.  One person commented that this allows the worship service to flow better.  There were two comments suggesting that we do not need announcements at all because they are printed in the bulletin.  Other comments suggested that prayer requests are different than announcements and they would prefer them right before the prayers.

Varying the affirmations of faith to include a variety of modern and traditional confessions and expressions of faith has also been a very positive move.  There were several comments similar to one which stated, “By varying, it isn’t just routine and makes you think about what you’re saying.”

One response that surprised me is the positive feedback about using hymns from other sources to supplement The Hymnal (the red hymnal, the hymnal of the Evangelical & Reformed Church (1941)) that we use on a regular basis.  The congregation does enjoy a variety of hymns in addition to the traditional hymns found in The Hymnal.  There were several requests to use the black Songs of Zion songbook more often.  When asked what style of hymns you would like to sing in addition to the traditional and German hymns found in The Hymnal all the categories (gospel, folk, contemporary, praise, classical and spiritual) were checked.  It looks like variety is a good thing.

One area of concern that was expressed in many of the feedback forms is what to do about the organ prelude and preparatory prayer.  An important part of Sunday worship is the gathering of the community of faith.  When friends gather, we want to say hello and catch up with the news of one another.  We want to be a friendly church.  But there comes a time in our worship when we need to settle down to center ourselves on the presence of God and the spirit of worship.  In traditional worship such as ours, the musical prelude and preparatory prayer is designed to help us focus on the presence of God.  Some people have expressed that this is hard to do with people talking to one another during the musical prelude.  We have juggled the order of service to try to balance the greetings with the centering time, but to no avail.

Let me suggest the following.  When you come to church and enter the sanctuary, greet one another.  Say hello to the person next to you.  Catch up on the news.  If you do not know the person next to you, introduce yourself.  If there are visitors, welcome them warmly.  Offer to answer questions about the worship service, or the church.  Be friendly.  Then, when you hear the organ (or other music) begin to play, settle down.  The prelude is our cue to be quiet.  Center yourself on the Spirit.  Pray for God’s presence to be with us.  Use the written preparatory prayer to help you, if you wish.  Be considerate of your neighbor.  Let this be our pattern as we come together for worship.

There was one more suggestion from the feedback forms.  This was a request to print the Sunday scripture lessons in the newsletter.  I will begin to do that with this newsletter.  Please keep I mind that I preach primarily from the lectionary, the three year cycle of readings recommended by the church.  But, I do not always follow the lectionary.  And, I often do not choose the final scripture readings until the week of the service.  With that in mind, I will publish the lectionary readings for each Sunday.  One of those readings will likely be the theme for that Sunday’s worship.

Thanks for your feedback.

Pastor LaSalle